Design Your Own Official Seal

Now that you have some ideas for symbols for your country, use them to create your micronation’s official coat of arms and a seal. Seals were originally designs pressed into a soft piece of wax with a mold. A seal put on a document shows that a person or government official has approved it. Today, seals are usually stamped on with an inkpad or pressed into a piece of paper with a special tool. . . MORE

Cloud Forest Terrarium

The Andean cloud forest is found on the eastern slope of the Andes Mountains. The warm, humid air from the Amazon basin makes its way up the mountains where it is blocked by cold, denser air there. The trapped air drops its moisture in the form of clouds and mist, quenching the thirst of the plants that grow in this unique ecosystem. A terrarium made from a soda bottle works like the cloud. . . MORE

Build a Miniature Bullboat

Native Americans living in the Great Plains, including the Mandan and Hidatsa tribes of the upper Missouri River area, weren’t just hunters. They also fished in the many rivers that wind through the Plains. Some of these rivers, like the Missouri and Knife Rivers, are so big that Native Americans needed boats to cross them. It should be no surprise that bison were used in making these boats,. . . MORE

Make Your Own Sundial

Shadows change direction depending on the time of day. As the earth rotates and the sun moves across the sky, shadows also move. In the morning, your shadow will stretch out behind you to the west, but in the evening it will stretch to the east. The shadow on your sundial does the same thing.

Make Your Own Gordian Knot

One legend says Alexander conquered Asia by solving the puzzle of the Gordian Knot. According to a prophecy, whoever untied this endless knot would rule the continent. Alexander took the direct approach—he cut the knot open with his sword. Today, a “Gordian knot” means an unsolvable problem. No one knows exactly what the Gordian Knot looked like. But you can make a knot called a Turk’s. . . MORE

Make Your Own Longhouse

The Iroquois men built their longhouses in the spring when the trees were young and flexible. Longhouses were large enough for 20 or more families to live in. Native Americans used materials that they found in nature. They believed that nothing should go to waste. Build a longhouse using as many natural resources as you can find, including dried weeds, straw, and twigs.

Talking Trash

The trash people throw out reveals a lot about human behavior. Prehistoric garbage dumps, called middens, are gold mines of information for archaeologists. Trash can reveal when people from a culture lived, what technology the people used, what the environment was like, and how the people obtained their food. In this activity you will examine a bag of garbage to see what your trash has to say. . . MORE

Measure the Movement of Plates

You’ll need to have a lot of patience for this project. If you stick with it, you’ll have a great understanding of how the continents move! Ask an adult to help you find a location where it is safe and acceptable to use pins that will remain undisturbed for at least a month. You don’t want to use a nice wall in the house!